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Six Sigma projects are strategy-driven, in the same way that the portfolio is driven by organizational strategy. So, how do the business drivers that are at work result in some projects being Six Sigma projects, and others not?

Business Drivers and Project Selection
Business drivers are the starting point for any project selection process because of their close relationship to organization strategy. Business drivers form the foundation for strategy. Strategy forms the basis for organizational goals. The goals can be translated into specific metrics for purposes of establishing benchmarks. The result of all of this is a set of initiatives wrapped up in a portfolio of projects and programs. The type of metrics determines the project methodology, such as Six Sigma.

3 Types of Metrics
There are 3 types of metrics that influence project type or approach.

1. Business Metrics – typically measure financial performance aspects
2. Operations metrics – measure various aspects of the operations for the enterprise at a macro level
3. Process Metrics – provide detailed information about the processes being employed in the day to day operations

All 3 of these metrics support and relate closely to one another, and ultimately to the organizational strategy. But Six Sigma supports the detailed process level activities, which are present throughout most functions within the organization. Thus any projects that will ultimately be measured by process metrics are candidates for Six Sigma projects.

Once a project is a candidate for a Six Sigma project, it needs to be determined if the project will be best served by a more “classical” approach to process improvement, or if the best path is a pure Six Sigma approach. The classical approach would go something like this:

1. Ientify the problems to be solved
2. Define the problems clearly
3. Investigate the defined problems
4. Analyze the problems
5. Solve the problems
6. Validate the results or solutions

If the project requires the greater rigor of Six Sigma, it will likely be best served by one of 2 main methodologies that are Six Sigma specific:

1. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) – Processes that are compliant with Six Sigma methods and metrics are created within the project.
2. DMAIC – The Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control method is the 5 step Six Sigma process improvement methodology.

The Identification of Metrics
Identifying the key driving metrics within the organization is the key to success in identifying strong candidates for Six Sigma projects. One of the most popular systems of organizational metrics today is the Balanced Scorecard. In the Balanced Scorecard, the management system that generates the metrics is aligned with the company’s strategy and goals. Metrics are developed based not only on the financial perspective, but on 4 different perspectives for measuring organizational effectiveness:

1. Financial performance – traditional way of measuring performance within a business
2. Customer-centric view – measures alignment with customer needs, such as customer retention, satisfaction, loyalty, complaints, and related measures
3. Internal business processes – these relate to operational aspects such as throughput, work in progress, and project management effectiveness
4. Learning and growth – relates to metrics around the concept of knowledge workers continuously learning, expanding competency in the right areas, and knowledge sharing and collaboration

Whether by accessing Balanced Scorecard information or identifying some other source within the organization, it is critical to access definitive information on the organization’s key metrics.

Prioritization of Six Sigma Projects
The assumption is that at this point, it has been concluded that a certain project lends itself to the Six Sigma approach. There are a number of positive and negative factors that need to be considered in prioritization. Aside from alignment with strategy, consideration must be made for urgency, size relative to resources, significance to the organization, impact, risk, ease of application or implementation, and degree of resistance within the organization.

Conclusion
Six Sigma projects are derived from the need to satisfy certain process metrics that support the business objectives and strategy of the organization. All projects need to be aligned with the business objectives and strategy, and Six Sigma projects are no exception. Six Sigma projects will typically account for a portion of the projects in the portfolio. The unique effectiveness of Six Sigma is most apparent where achievement of improved process metrics is the goal. Six Sigma is very data and metrics driven, so there must be a clear ability to gather or generate appropriate metrics before, during, and after conclusion of the project in order to drive success.

Even though the implementation techniques and tools put into practice by Black Belts could differ, Kaizen is by far the basic methodology used for such purposes. Additionally, it has been observed that principles of Lean Six Sigma are time and again merged with Kaizen concepts for providing faster and much better results.

Kaizen Basics

Six Sigma and Kaizen are said to be alike as they both are based on the principle that every organization is composed of a series of business processes, which have to be changed occasionally to accomplish better quality and efficiency.

The following are some basic Kaizen procedures Black Belts put into practice for identifying problem areas and looking for operational results.

Identifying Key Problem Areas

During this procedure, the Black Belt and their team members focus their strengths on recording the various features of the business process for making the identification process considerably faster and easier. After the various elements of the given process are recorded, it turns out to be very easy for the implementation team to identify problem areas and advise corrective measures to solve them.

Mapping of the process is useful in recording the aspects of a complex business process that has many sub-processes or sub-parts.

Getting the Timing Right

Analysis of the time value is conducted whenever the efficiency of a particular business process relies on the time spent for completing various sub-processes within the main one. This helps the Black Belts in weighing the actual time taken for the process against the standards that have been set. When the less efficient sub-process is identified, the Black Belts use the previous process maps for identifying the problem areas causing the slowdown, contained by the sub-process.

Focusing On Key Processes

There are instances where, due to limited time, it is impossible to evaluate every business process. In times like these, Black Belts employ value stream mapping for recognizing processes that offer maximum value and the ones that offer minimum value. Value stream mapping is very helpful whenever there is some improvement in quality that has to be carried out in a diminutive time for making it easier for Black Belts to focus their quality improvement programs only on maximum value providing processes.

This procedure is usually used in organizations where the real number of low value processes is considerably larger than the high value processes. This procedure may not be necessary in organizations with fewer processes or in organizations with high value processes.

Every Kaizen procedure illustrated above can be independently or simultaneously used on the basis of the type of business process in question. The Black Belts can always put their innovative skills and experience to use in conjunction with the given procedures to easy identify and solve critical issues with regard to Six Sigma implementation projects.